Passing Time
May 2007
The Big Springs Historical Society and Museum
May 2007
An Honor
President’s Letter
Each year, for their annual
meeting, the Rochester Landmark Society chooses a local
treasure to showcase to its members. It was an honor for our
museum to have been chosen as
this site. The meeting was held
on Sunday, May 6, with over
100 new visitors to our community. To complement this event,
we scanned over 100 slides from
our collection of local homes
and buildings. We have the
collection running on our DVD
for a couple of weeks. Stop by
and have a look!
We started 2007 with several board members reaching by-law term limits. I want to take this
opportunity to express my appreciation to those members for the dedicated years they have given
to the museum. Alan Garrett not only served as the treasurer for our organization but also helped
to take care of our heating/cooling systems, computers, electrical issues and any other maintenance
issue that came about. Nancy Daley, our programs organizer, always came up with interesting
speakers and program ideas. Rene Kelly has been responsible for the high-quality, professional
graphic designs of all our invitations, flyers, posters and newsletters. Quille Westbrook not only
functioned as our events hostess by organizing, preparing and presenting a wonderful spread of
food but also was responsible for the creation of the museum gift shop. Karen Ludlum was instrumental in the sales and promotion of our museum cookbooks. Words cannot express, nor do
justice, to all the work and hours these dedicated members have given to our organization. Our
museum is certainly better for having all of these people as part of this organization. Although they
have officially stepped down from the board, they will continue to dedicate their talents, time and
commitment to the Big Springs Museum and Historical Society.
I would also like to welcome our new board members: Kim Torre, Donald Griffin, Meg
Donegan and Dick Thomas. These new members bring with them fresh strengths and talents. I
am looking forward to working with all of the board members to continue the success and positive
impact BSHS is having on our community.
New Plaques Textile Grant Received
If you happen to be on
Pioneer Street, stop and see our
new bronze plaques. The plaque
next to our entrance honors two
former Caledonia residents, the
late Lester and Blanche McGray, whose generous bequests
to our museum and other organizations in our community will
long be remembered. The other
plaque recalls the history of the
concrete school marker now
displayed in our courtyard, and
rehoused in part from donations
in memory of Jeanne Harrigan.
Thanks to Jim Blamphin for
willingly taking on this task!
We are thrilled to announce that BSHS has received a $2500
grant from the Upstate History Alliance. The grant will fund a textile
consultation with Mary Ellen Perry. Mary Ellen has worked with us
in the past and comes with a vast amount of experience in this area.
Along with our curator Pat Garrett and museum volunteers, Mary
Ellen will be working over the next year to identify and catalog a portion of our women’s costume collection. The project will include an
assessment of each garment’s condition, its provenance and its role in
our museum’s mission. Presently, our extensive textile collection occupies a large amount of storage space in our museum and for the most part is uninterpreted. Mary
Ellen has generously offered to provide offsite research on some articles as needed. This project is
an exciting step toward learning more about our wonderful collection and providing us with the
knowledge we need to care for it.
In anticipation of this project and others, we recently purchased PastPerfect, collections
management software. Combined with Mary Ellen’s expertise, this will allow us to embark on this
project implementing professional standards often seen only in larger institutions. We can’t wait to
get started! If this is a project you would be interested in helping with, please give us a call.
Passing Time
May 2007
“Where They Fell”
Love Tokens
– a review by Michael O’Hara, Fourth grader at Cal-Mum School.
On February 18,
Jane Hanken from
the Numismatic Society (Coin Collecting Society) shared
with us her extensive collection of
Love Tokens. Love
Tokens, which were popular in the 1800s,
are coins smoothed or sanded on one
or both sides and engraved with initials,
names, sayings or special dates. The coin
used most often was the dime because during the 1800s men often earned 10 cents a
day. Love tokens were commonly worn on
a bracelet or necklace and given as a sign of
love or affection. Women collected tokens
much like we would collect charms for a
charm bracelet. After this presentation our
Curator realized that she had a love token
bracelet at home in her jewelry box; she
had never known what it was until now. On January 28, 2007, the Author Bob Marcotte came to the
Big Springs Museum to talk about his book Where They Fell. His
talk was entitled, “Two Brothers; Two Limbs - Two Sides of A Civil
War Medical Controversy. I may only be nine years old but I am
very interested in the Civil War and other historical eras. When my
mother told me there would be someone speaking about the Civil
War and the medical procedures during that time I was very excited
and came with her to the museum. As Mr. Marcotte spoke, I
learned that a lot of casualties were not a result of the wound, but a
Michael O’Hara
result of the surgical instruments used to “heal” the wound. Many
soldiers died because nobody knew of bacteria and germs, so surgeons did not clean their
instruments after using them on a person.
One of the surgical instruments Mr. Marcotte described was basically like a necklace
with sharp jagged teeth pointing inward. This was used to “resect,” or cut off and sew
back a limb. The surgeon would loop this tool around the patient’s wounded bone and
pull back and forth on the necklace, sawing off the shattered piece of the bone. After this,
the arm would be sewed back on. This was done so the patient could still have an arm
instead of a stub. Often this limb would be useless and become infected. This surgery
was controversial because some surgeons still believed in amputation. I was wondering
how anybody could survive the pain of an amputation or “resect” without any painkillers,
or antibiotics. Mr. Marcotte’s description of the conditions made me feel sorrow for the
soldiers. I greatly respect soldiers and veterans because they sacrifice their lives to protect
us, and fight for our freedom.
I enjoyed learning about the two brothers from Mumford that Mr. Marcotte wrote
about. My great-grandfather Keefe used to own a market in Mumford. History is very
important to me because everything in modern life revolves around history and how
things have evolved. The Civil War is especially important to me because it shaped today’s
world.
MacKay Wildlife Preserve
Barry Ganzhorn was at the big Springs
Museum on February 18 to autograph his
book, A Gift and a Vision, The Story of
the Development of the MacKay Wildlife
Preserve. Barry’s book tells a tale of vision, commitment, family, community
and friendship in a thoroughly delightful
narrative about how the well-used wildlife
preserve came to be. The guest book at the
preserve is itself great reading because it
contains comments from people from all
over the country who have stopped to enjoy this wonderful walk with nature.
A limited number of books are still available, for a $10 contribution to the MacKay
Wildlife Preserve. Call Vonnie Pullyblank at 538-6417 to obtain a copy, or you can pick
one up at the museum.
Museum Swap
The Newstead Historical Society
hosted a ‘museum swap’ on May 6 for their
members to come and enjoy our museum.
Several of them did.
Newstead Historical Society welcomes
anyone from BSHS to come out to the
Knight-Sutton Museum, 123 Main Rd.,
Akron to see their new exhibit on ‘Farms
and Agriculture.’ The exhibit features
agricultural items from the Newstead Historical Society’s collection as well as many
interesting items that have been graciously
loaned to the society from area farming
families both past and present.
Also owned by the Newstead Historical Society is the Rich-Twinn Octagon
House, a rare and extremely early surviving
example of the Octagon mode in Western
N.Y. You might also enjoy a bite to eat in
one of their local establishments to make
an enjoyable day of it. We encourage our
members to visit them.
Passing Time
May 2007
Dort Resch – Volunteer
“If you don’t have sense of humor you’ll never make it, folks.”
You probably haven’t seen her lately,
since she’s at home recuperating, but Dort
is hankering to get back to the museum.
She’s concerned that no one will have done
her latest job at the museum, which was
to paste obituaries in ‘the book.’ “I know
there have been several this year that need
to go in there,” she said. The death register is really important, according to Dort,
because people sometimes use it to find out
about their ancestors or to find information for dealing with the estates of people
whose surviving relatives are listed in an
obituary.
Dort is an irrepressible lady who has
served the community not only as a BSHS
volunteer and board member, but also as
a teacher in the Cal-Mum school. She attended the Caledonia High School when it
was in the building that is currently housing the museum, and has many wonderful
stories about her school days and what they
used to do in Caledonia then.
Dort has been a part of the museum
for longer than she can remember. She
worked as a volunteer on Mondays, with
‘the girls.’ Before that she was the secretary
of the museum, “until the bylaws we made
told me I had to step down.” She said it
was great to have a mix of old and new
people on the board, because the old people never want to change anything, and the
new people do. Dort said she remembered
when they argued about putting carpeting
on the old school floorboards. She said that
she and some of the older board members
argued about the change, but “now I think
the younger people were right!”
If you talk with her you can find out
all kinds of things about Caledonia that
you won’t see today: the giant elm tree with
the rope swing that kids used to eat lunch
beneath; the drugstore where the Cozy
Kitchen’s dining room is now, and its hot
dogs and hamburgers for lunches. There
were two soda fountains in town, and two
drugstores. The room in the museum now
set up as the girls’ schoolroom was the
old lavatory. Shenanigans included girls
sneaking down the boys’ stairs and boys
sneaking down the girls’ stairs. The school
building itself was the victim of a fire that
lost the whole back part where the apartments are today. “Boy we could sure use
the room now,” says Dort.
Dort Resch and other museum volunteers are not only great volunteers but
are wonderful sources of oral history. It’s
important to get these folks’ memories before they disappear – so that we know how
Caledonia has grown and changed over the
years. Just listening to Dort talk for a few
minutes made me more aware of what it
was like here in the days when one of the
museum’s old timers was a girl.
A Garden View
by Dick Thomas
“Gardens are a form of autobiography.”
- Sydney Eddison
Spring arrived early this year inside
the museum with an exhibit of local
gardens by Caledonia photographer, Dick
Thomas. “Garden Views” opened on
March 24th to a crowd of visitors eager to
feel the warmth and sunlight of a new season. The museum was transformed, as if by
magic, with water fountains, bird sounds and garden lights. Visitors had the opportunity to discover the many talented ‘garden artists’ we have working right here in our
own backyard (and theirs of course!) Swaths of brilliant color, creatures of both earth
and sky, including the rare Luna Moth, graced the museum’s walls. Water gardens,
perennial gardens, and vegetable gardens disclosed the unique touch of their creators.
They reminded us that planting is an act of faith and creating something beautiful is
what truly makes us human.
Dick’s work has been featured at the museum on several occasions and his subjects
often include the special people and places that exist right here in our community.
Guests were treated to music, throughout the evening, performed by Don Griffin.
In addition, nine year old Aidan Sullivan
displayed his own photographs of butterflies
he caught or raised in the summer of 2006.
Aidan has compiled a scrapbook and created a DVD slide show of his pictures. His
project also just received an award at the first
Cal-Mum School Media Fair. Aidan was on
hand to share his incredible knowledge about
butterflies and to offer advice on which host
and nectar plants will attract butterflies to
your garden.
Passing Time
May 2007
From the Curator: The Goat Woman
As often happens at our community
museum, a member and patron stopped
by to share a bit of her history with us
and leave a photo for our collection.
Recently Gladys Clements brought us
a photo of the “Goat Woman.” She
recalled the day her mom got a phone
call saying that the “Goat Woman” was
coming through town. She and her
mom rushed to a spot on Route 5 and
waited. Gladys remembers that someone told her to wave some money and the “Goat
Woman” would stop and they could take a photo. In researching our archives regarding
Gladys’ story, we found the article below. It also spurred Mary Cullinan’s and Don Pullyblank’s recollection of the event. Don remembers that his dad was working at Brown’s
Chevrolet at the time. He called home and Don and brother Bob went with their dad to
see the “Goat Lady” on Route 36. Thank you to Gladys for sharing a bit of her history
with us!
Caledonia Was On “Goat Woman’s” Itinerary
From the Caledonia Advertiser, February 28, 1948
The “goat woman” passed thru town about noon last Saturday. She is Mrs. Arthur
Lamear of Bethel, Vermont, en route to Clarksville, Ark., where she and her husband
have made a down payment on 40 acres of flatland where they intend to start a goat
ranch.
In a covered wagon of homemade construction, she is transporting 11 pedigreed
goats, carrying feed for them and her team of horses, “Rex” and “Bus” and her dog,
“Tiny,” in true pioneer style. Mrs. Lamear, however, does not think of it as a pioneer
stunt, “just a disagreeable task that has to be done,” she says. One of her goats got tangled
in a chain and nearly strangled itself, which caused a delay at Batavia for veterinary treatment. She left Vermont January 25th.
Big Springs Historical Society
and Museum (585) 538-9880
Officers
President..........................Mara Trojanski
Vice President.....................Diane Pawlik
Treasurer............................. Karen Stalica
Secretary.............................Mary Thomas
Chief Financial Officer.........Elke Phillips
Curator............................... Patty Garrett
Docent............................... Lois Waldron
Newsletter Editor.......... Julie McCollister
Board of Trustees
Susan Deragon, Meg Donegan, Donald
Griffin, Evie Johnson, Sean Sullivan,
Dick Thomas, Kim Torre
Big Springs Historical Society and Museum
3095 Main Street
PO Box 41
Caledonia NY 14423
Upcoming
Events
All of the following events will be held
at the museum unless otherwise noted.
Events are subject to change. Please call
the museum at 538-9880 for more specific
information (leave a message and someone
will get back to you).
Saturday, June 9
CMCS Art Show Opening, 7 - 9 p.m.
Nicole Sylvester’s art class at CaledoniaMumford Central School will have their
best pieces on display, with a wide variety
of mediums. You’ll be awed and inspired by
the talent of these students!
Saturday, July 28
Pictures in the Park, 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
This event is all about your pet(s)! Our pet
papparazzi will be taking professional photographs of your pet (with or without you
- your choice) for a fee. Look for upcoming
information to be mailed out soon!
Events in the Planning Stages
• Fall Train Show
• Wine-Tasting
• Music Festival
• Big Springs Festival